


The Therapy of Music

by ewya_barnes1114



Category: Yu Yu Hakusho
Genre: Cutesy, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 00:37:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12096885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ewya_barnes1114/pseuds/ewya_barnes1114
Summary: Keiko ups and leaves Yusuke. Jo tries to be a good friend and help him through it but things get out of control. How will Yusuke make it up to her?





	The Therapy of Music

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! So, this is my second completed fic since I started writing fics 14-15 years ago. I haven't written for 13 years. Yeah I know, it's only a one-shot so it's not really that great of an accomplishment but I procrastinate like the dickens so having two completed fics is a huge thing because I have soooo many unfinished ones. Anyway, this was a scene idea I had for a fic of mine from 13 years ago and I decided to make it into a one-shot. 
> 
> There is one instance of language. Other than that it is clean. Just cute and fluffy :).
> 
> Let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is welcome :).

The Therapy of Music

“If you’re going to make a move, tonight is likely the last chance you’ll get Yusuke…”

Kurama’s words from that morning rang in his ears like angry bees while mulling over the fight he’d had with me weeks before.

Keiko had up and left him on the grounds that she couldn’t handle someone who was able to do what he could. At first she had loved it. Having Yusuke keep up with her in the bedroom had its perks. Then she started to become afraid of him, of his power. 

I had tried to help console him as a best friend would. I told it straight, nothing sugarcoated. Probably not the best to do in this kind of situation, but Yusuke being who he was, it was always best to just deliver it straight. But that day, every female was his target. Actually, that was wrong. I was the target. 

“Yusuke, I’m sorry she left you, but I can’t say I’m sad to see her go.”

Yusuke shot a murderous glance at me. 

“Let me explain. I understand that you’ve been together since childhood and you thought she was the one, but, honestly Yusuke? You need someone like -”

He interruped me with a cold, piercing stare. “Like you?”

I didn’t know what to say. That wasn’t my train of thought in the slightest. 

“No. Someone with an open mind. Wouldn’t hurt if they were familiar with the art themselves.”

He scoffed, turning away from me. I went up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He flinched, grabbing my wrist, swirling to face me.

“Don’t touch me. You know you think you know everything because you’ve been around us for a little while. You don’t know anything! All you girls are the same! Stringing guys along, thinking it’s sexy that they have abilities but then dropping them like yesterday’s garbage when you realize it’s too much. Don’t tell me who I need in my life.”

“That’s not really a fair comparison, Yusuke, First off, not too many have the abilities that you and the guys have. Secondly, you don’t know every female on this planet. We’re not all the same…”

“You think you can just bat your eyelashes at me and I’ll just fall at your feet. You’ve managed to wrangle Kurama and that’s pretty impressive.”

My eyes narrowed. “Keiko may be gone, but her influence still lingers…and Kurama is like my best friend. Far cry from wrangling someone…”

I knew full well how Keiko felt about me. I figured it out very quickly that she perceived me as a threat very after meeting her. Yusuke looked aghast that he had just let that slip out. 

Yusuke looked at the floor. “You don’t know what it’s like to lose the one you thought was forever.”

“Maybe not, but I know how it feels to be treated like I’m invisible by one.”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t be such a bitch.” Yusuke’s eyes rose to settle on the doorway. 

My eyebrows rose so high I thought they were going to fly off.

“Oh, look. Your cavalry have arrived.”

I turned to see Kurama, Kuwabaran and Hiei at the door.

I couldn’t help the snort that came from me as I turned back to him.

“My calvary?”

He turned a marked look at me.”Yeah, you know! Miss Damsel-in-Distress needs her backup since she can’t handle herself.”

His cruelty today was unlike anything I’d ever seen. My hair hiding my face, I balled my hands into tight fists, walked up to Yusuke pointedly, unrolling the fleshy boulder as I wound up for the slap of the century. At the last second, I formed the fist again and punched him with all the force I could muster. The resounding sound ricocheted around the room, his head cocked to the side as his body followed suite onto the floor, a screaming red mark the shape of my fist ingraining onto his cheek. His eyes were wide, unbelieving. I gave him no time to recover. I grabbed two fistfuls of his shirt and pulled him into my face.

“Let’s get something straight. First off, you have Keiko so far up your ass you can’t tell where she ends and you begin. Keiko is gone Yusuke. She couldn’t hack it. You need to accept that and stop attacking me for something I have no control over! Is it because I’m of the gender than just ripped your heart out? Secondly, I don’t need anyone to come fight my battles for me. You think you’re a big tough man because of your reputation but inside you’re still a punk kid who’s pissed off at the world! You’re miserable because your girl left you. I get it. But that’s no excuse to attack those close to you!”

His eyes slowly shrunk down from their wide-eyed state and sank to the floor. He said something so quietly, I could hardly hear it.

“Keiko would still be here…if you weren’t…you.”

I dropped my fists holding his shirt immediately, like the fabric was burning me.

Yusuke sat up, locking eyes with me defiantly.

“Keiko would still be here if it weren’t for you.”

I could have sworn I’d heard something different. In any case…

I stood up, moving my hands together like I was dusting them off. 

“And we’re done here. I’ve had enough of being treated like shit for your amusement for one day.”

I said a chipper “Hey, guys!” as I walked past them to my room.

Since then, Yusuke had been making himself scarce to avoid the glares of death from his housemates. Over a week or so, they had softened up. Hiei always had a constant glare, so no difference there. He could handle them. Jo, on the other hand, was fucking terrifying. When she was pissed, she had eyes like the Devil himself had taken up residence. Kurama and Hiei were hardened demons and even they gave her wide berth the first time they’d seen her glare.

He’d tried to apologize before but every time he did, her hand shot up, eyes closed, silencing him before he could get a single word out. And every time he wanted to smack her hand out of the way, grab her shirt and yell at her about how much of an idiot he was and that he was sorry. Yet every time he stood there, like she’d frozen him to the floor.

The Baazar was coming up and Kurama was keeping Jo busy planning the talent show portion. Kurama had tried to get her to do an act. She had blushed profusely stammering there was no way you were getting her on stage.

“It’s not like we don’t know you can sing.” Hiei commented.

“Wha-?!”

“Even though you don’t think you’re projecting, trying to sing as quiet as possible, we hear you.” Kurama said, pointing to his ears.

“Don’t know why you’d try to hide it. You’re good.” Kuwabara said before a pillow hit him in the face.

That got Yusuke thinking as he watched from around the corner. While he was staying scarce, Yusuke Urameshi, forever ingrained as the baddest punk at Sarayashiki Junior High, walked through the door of a place he never thought he’d find himself; a music store for voice lessons.

I finally caved on doing an act as per Kurama’s relentless begging and chose a duet just to shut him up. Singing by myself and when in front of a crowd were two very different realities. If I was forced to sing on stage, I figured a duet would be the easiest thing because there was someone else with me. We decided on a more macabre song as Kurama knew how I felt about love songs. I told Kurama he was lucky I loved him. He flashed me that sweet smile that held a devilish tone. He always had that smile when he got his way.

“Don’t think I don’t see right through that, Yoko…”

Kurama flashed innocent eyes at me, blinking…

“Who, me? Never.”

The nerves hit then. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this.” 

His hand were on my shoulders, giving them a comforting squeeze.

“You’ll be great.”

I smiled, turned and grabbed his hands.

“No. We’ll be great.” I said, bumping my forehead to his.

The 11th hour grew closer, my hands clammy backstage. The second Kurama went on stage to announce the acts, I knew there was no turning back. Even though I was pissed off at Yusuke, I missed him. He always knew what smartass thing to say to cheer me up. Not for lack of trying on Kurama’s part. It’s just…there was something different between me and Yusuke. Like he was my emotional balm and Kurama was the physical portion. To calm my nerves, I went to check on the lights for our act for the sixth time since we’d gotten there when a waft of cigarette smoke hit me as I passed by an open door. 

“Maybe just a quick one…” I said quietly to myself before slipping outside. Smoking not only helped me calm down, but also think. I put buds in my ears, found the song I wanted and tried to focus on the lyrics, while mouthing the words. As I listened, I cursed Kurama’s fox ears and the foul look he’d give me when I walked back in smelling like smoke.

We had the rehearsal the night before to work out any kinks. Kurama had added a nice touch with making flowers boom and move in time with the music. It was pretty, the execution from both of us perfect. 

‘See! You’re perfect!’ Kurama had said.

‘That’s because the auditorium is empty.’

‘Just focus on the back wall. When the lights go down, the audience will be below your line of sight. We’ll do it one more time. Focus on the back wall.’

Lost in my thoughts and music, I didn’t see Yusuke slip through the door a foot away from me.

Yusuke found Kurama backstage, a hurried air to him.

“Yusuke-!”

He handed him a CD and simply said, “Be ready…” Then he was gone.

I walked back in to see Kurama holding a CD and looking perplexed.

“What’s that?” You’re not going to try and prank me by turning on opera or something like that?”

“No. We have a late entry.”

“Oh. Cool. Who is it?”

“They urm…wish to remain anonymous.”

“Hmmm…That’s weird. Maybe it’s some guy or girl surprising their SO.”

Kurama gave a weird chuckle that I didn’t understand. I heard sniffing sounds.

“Jo…”

I met his glossy yellow gaze head on.

“Yoko.”

Kurama cleared his throat quickly when someone passed by. “We’re next.”

“Ugh, finally! What’d you do? Put us last?” I swear he was trying to torture me as much as he possibly could with this.

“Well, we have to save the best for last, right?” I punched his shoulder playfully.  
“Now that’s not nice. I’m sure everyone else is great too.” I blew out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. ”Now or never!” I said, my face uneasy. Kurama hugged me and said I would be fine. I knew he was right, but try telling that to my nerves.

I changed into a pretty black gothic dress. It had a basic design, with a center middle part that had scrunchy fabric and folded ribbon on three different layers. I had knee-high black socks on with black ballet flats. To finish the touches, I placed a thick black ribbon choker on my neck, a big black flower in my hair, black eyeshadow and black lipstick. I don’t recall ever seeing Kurama’s jaw drop so quickly when he looked at me. It was my turn to mimic Kurama when I saw him in full light. Kurama had temporary sprayed his amazing red locks a midnight black, donning a very intricately designed black vest with a black shirt underneath, a silk black tie and black pants, complete with shiny black shoes and a masquerade type mask over his eyes.

“Oh, wow” I said on a breath.

He chuckled. “Oh, wow indeed.”

We stood behind the curtain holding hands as the intro for What Have You Done Now by Within Temptation started. I bounced in place, reading myself. Kurama squeezed my hand for additional support as he felt the cold sweat break out. The curtain opened, the euphoria of the lights taking over.

The performance went off without a hitch as Kurama had continually said it would, ending with a standing ovation. Kurama’s tip of looking at the back wall really helped me not to focus on the audience. When we got off stage, Kurama picked me up by my hips and swung me around. I balanced myself with my hands on his shoulders.

“You did it! You were awesome out there!”

“You were too! Definitely heard more than a few screams for you Mr. Ladies 

Man.” I looked him up and down, admiring the view.

“Hey!” He said, snapping his fingers. “My eyes are up here.” 

I blushed, giggling. “What can I say?” I said shrugging my shoulders.

He chuckled, blushing slightly. “Well, I’m going to go change. I’ll meet up with you in a minute.”

“That’s a good idea. Okay.”

I walked out of the dressing room feeling much better. I loved the outfit I had chosen for our act but this just felt more comfortable. And I didn’t want to bring attention to myself. I changed into a nearly thigh long long sleeved shirt with a lace design on the sleeve ends with a pair of dark jeans and a tan pair of flats. I let my hair down from the braid it had been in, admiring the crimped like curls it left in my hair. I didn’t see Kurama when I left the dressing room so I found some paper and left a note on the podium backstage for him. To be honest I would be pouting the next time I saw Kurama because he wouldn’t be dressed in that awesome outfit. He looked damn good, even if he was my best friend. And I would eye bang the hell out of him if I wanted to. I was a free woman after all, making a mental note to petition that he dress like that all the time. I peeked out the curtain to see they were having a short intermission so I took the time to have a cigarette

I came back in to the lights dimmed and folks finishing filing back into their seats. I made my way down the stairs, the sound of the curtain raising barely registering in my ears, next to the stage and up the aisle when I stopped dead in my tracks.

“Something in the way…she moves…

Attracts me like no other lover…

Something in the way she woos me…”

I turned in what felt like slow motion to see Yusuke on stage, singing one of my favorite songs, my eyes wide and jumping. He was illuminated by a single floodlight, a skull t-shirt, ripped black jeans with a patched leather jacket in place of his usual green jumpsuit. Completely stuck out like a sore thumb to the type of song he was singing. Dork…

“I don’t want to leave her now…

You know I believe in how…”

I felt a bump on my shoulder, jumping slightly, turning to see Kurama smiling at me holding a microphone. I gave him an accusing look but took the microphone anyway.

“Somewhere in her smile, she knows…

That I don’t need no other lover. 

Something in her style that shows me…

I don’t want to leave her now. You know I believe in how”

I checked to see if the mic was on, hoping that the reverb sound wouldn’t accompany it if I had to turn it on. I suspected Kurama had gotten it ready for me. Jerkbag. As the music built up to the third verse, I readied the microphone at my lips and began to sing, much to the shock of Yusuke. A floodlight found me with its inescapable light, illuminating me to the entire audience. In the back of my head I thought ‘I’m going to kick his ass.’ making my way up the steps towards the center of the stage where Yusuke stood, staring at me with wide eyes.

“You're asking me will my love grow,

I don't know, I don't know.

You stick around now, it may show,

I don't know, I don't know.”

The floodlight went off of us while the music interlude playing. I looked behind me, seeing moving pictures out of the corner of my eye. It was a silhouette of a couple who started out as friends with that friendship blossoming into something more. The girl gets her heart broken by the boy and the boy comes back to fix it. Fitting  
.  
Yusuke readied to sing the fourth verse, grabbing my hand as the lights illuminated us once again, staring at me the entire time he sang, a blush contouring my features. 

“Something in the way she knows,

And all I have to do is think of her.

Something in the things she shows me.

I don't want to leave her now.

You know I believe in how.”

The silhouette video overlayed behind us with the boy bending down and offering a rose. I was shocked and speechless when Yusuke mimicked their movements. My hands flew to my face, fingers on either side of my nose, glancing to the side to see if the video would portray that as well.

The shadows matched perfectly. I turned a sly look his direction. “Apology accepted.”

He gave a genuine smile that both broke and melted my heart. As the music slowed down, he pulled me into him, dipping me down, covering my lips with his own in a soft kiss. 

The audience went wild. Another standing ovation. As the lights went black, he broke the kiss with what seemed like self-distrust. 

“I did that for effect.”

“Right…” 

“Are you mad?”

My eyes looked to where I had punched. him The red mark was still there. I winced internally and dragging my fingers over his cheek, said, “No.”

He heard the sincerity in my voice and gently guided my hand to his off of his cheek. We stood there, face to face, palm to palm. The stage light and curtain came back on and up, courtesy of Kurama I’m sure. We smiled to each other, sinking our fingers into each others’ hands, taking a bow. I reached out my hand to Kurama, inviting him to join us. 

He jogged across the stage, happily taking my hand. We raised our hands, my hand intertwined in Yusuke’s to the right, the other in Kurama’s to the left, together and took our final bow. 

I smiled as we exchanged glances, marking that I was disappointed to see Kurama out of his outfit. I’d worry about that later. 

I didn’t know what would come my way in regards to Yusuke and I ending up together. What I did know was that, no matter what happened, with both of them by my side, I’d be able to handle anything.

**Author's Note:**

> *SO is significant other
> 
> I know the song Kurama and Jo perform is from 2007 but this was kind of like an imagine turned one-shot so I wasn't really too stickler about matching up the canon line. Plus the song Yusuke sings is Something by Jim Sturgess from Across the Universe and that was also the same year I believe. I know the Beatles first did it, but the style he sings is the Jim Sturgess one.


End file.
